Apparatus for making iron or steel.



Patented Apr. 8, I902.

E. MEININGHAUS.

APPARATUS FOR MAKING IRON 0R STEEL.

(Application filed Nov. 23, 1901.)

II I

(No Model.)

lhvrrnn @TFATES Parent OFFICE.

EDUARD MElNINGI-IAUS, OF DUSSELDORF, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR TO JOSEPH LEINBERGER, OF DARMSTADT, GERMANY.

APPARATUS FOR MAKING IRON OR STEEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 697,213, dated April 8, 1902.

Application filed November 23, 1901. Serial No. 83,398. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDUARD MEININGHAUS, a citizen of the German Empire, residing at Dusseldorf, in the Province of Rhenish Prussia and Kingdom of Prussia, Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus or Furnaces for Making Iron or Steel; and I do hereby declare the'following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will'enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to a new apparatus or furnace by means of which it is possible to produce wrought or malleable iron or steel direct in one operation from ores which hitherto had been considered useless for treatment in the blast-furnacenamely, fine ores, dust ores, and sand ores. To attain this object, the new furnace is based upon a new process of working, for which I am about to apply for Letters Patent in the United States in a separate application, and it is constructed as will be hereinafter described and as is illustrated 2 5 in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical section through the furnace along line A A of Fig. 3. Fig. 2 is a similar section along line B B. Fig.3 is a horizontal section along line C G of Fig. 1.

The furnace proper is built'into a casing or mantle 1 of the shape of a hollow truncated cone having its large base upward, a plate 2 closing this casing at the bottom, and at the top side it is provided with a cover 3, held in hinges 4. At about three-fourths of its height the casing is provided with pivots or pins 5, resting movably in standards 6, so that by means of the gearing 7 and a lever 8 it can be turned.

Inside of the casing 1 is built first a layer 9 of a material forming a bad conductor of heat, then follows a layer 10 of ordinary firebricks, and then follows a layer 11 of best refractory bricks. The cover 3 has also an in 5 side coating 12 of material of the last-named quality. A pipe 14: leads into the lower part of a hollow space 13 inside of the coating 11. This pipe is lined inside with fire-clay. It serves for conducting the heating-gas coming from a generator into the furnace, a valve 15 serving for regulating the amount of this gas let into the furnace. Over the space 13 is placed the reduction-space or crucible 16, the casing of which is made of fire-bricks of the very best refractory material and havingsuch 5 5 a shape that they form channels 18, separated from each other by ribs 17 on the said firebricks. These channels lead into the space 19 between the cover 3 and the top of the crucible and thence into the exhaust-channel 20 of the furnace.

The air necessary for burning the generator-gases is blown in through a pipe 21, having a valve 21, into the channels 22 and 23, surrounding the furnace, and it escapes at 2A into the space 13, where it is mixed with said gases, and burning there at a very high temperature.

The crucible 16 is provided at its top with an opening 25, which can be closed by a valve 26. This valve is guided in the lining of the cover 3, and it closes by its own weight and can be raised from its seat by a screw 27, so that in this case the interior of the crucible l6 communicates with the channel 20. The connection between the screw-spindle 27 and the valve 26 is, however, so that the valve can be raised independently of the spindle by the pressure of the gases in the crucible.

A channel 28 leads from the upper part of the reduction-space into the air. This serves for drawing off slags from the furnace. This channel is generally closed by a plug inserted therein.

At the bottom of the crucible there is an opening 29, which communicates with two channels 30 and 31. The upper one, 30, of these channels serves forintroducin g the plug 33 into the hole 29 by means of a rod 32, so that the hole 29 can be closed or opened at will from 0 the outside. The lower channel 31 serves a double purpose. By it the fluid metal can be let out and gases, oxygen, or air can be blown through it into the interior of the crucible when the plug 38 is withdrawn. fluid metal may also be let off by the channel 28 when the furnace is turned on the pins 5 in the standards 6.

The working of the new furnace is as follows: The raw materials, ores, and fluxes hav- I00 The alone, as in a blast-furnace.

ing been charged into the crucible 16, all its openings are closed, and also the cover 3 of the furnace, and the pipes 21, 14, and 20 are connected with their respective main pipes. The valves 15 and 21 are then opened and the heating is started. The heating-gases go up through the channels 18, thereby heating the crucible 16 from the outside, and they then escape through the channel 20, whence they are conducted to a receptacle containing the ores for the next charge, or they may be conducted to some other place in order to be fully used up. Besides this external firing, the internal heating may be carried on at the same time when the opening 25 in the top of the crucible is closed and the gases therein are compressed. These compressed oxid gases in the crucible are burned by the oxygen developed by the reducing action of the ores. The valve 26 allows the free escape of the gases if the pressure should get too high. It then the metaland the slags have separated the latter can be let oif by the channel 28. Then the valve 26 is opened, and air or other suitable gases are blown into the crucible and through the metal by the channel 31; in consequence of which the heat in the interior is raised so much that all combustible materials still contained therein-carbon and others-are burned. The gases escape by the open valve 26 into the channel 20.

The heating may be done in the crucible Then the crucible is charged with ores, fluxes, and with coke or other fuel, and air or other suitable gas is blown into it by the channel 31.

When it is desired to produce cast-steel, the crucible may be heated from the outside only, like a cast-steel crucible.

The casing has approximately the form of the crucible and leaves a continuous space between them at the top sides and bottom. The body of said casing consists of three con centric refractory layers, affording ample protection against undue conduction of heat, while allowing the passage 23 to be formed as described. I

I am aware that furnaces having an internal crucible of similar shape and capable of being heated from the outside and which are also surrounded by gas or air channels and.

resting pivotally on standards in a similar way have been known before my invention;

but I am not aware that a furnace has been known which at the same time can be heated inside and outside at will or only inside or only from the outside and in which the gases produced inside can be compressed and burned in that state. I therefore do not claim, broadly, as my invention a furnace of the first kind; but

What I do claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a furnace for producing wrought iron or steel direct from the ores in combination with a crucible 16 having an opening 25 in its enlarged top, a self-closin g valve 26 upon said opening, a screw spindle 27 guiding said valve, an outlet-pipe 28 near the upper end of the crucible for letting out slags and also molten metal from the crucible, an opening 29 at the bottom of the crucible, said open-.

ing communicating With two channels 30 and 31 respectively, the first one of which serving for opening or closing said opening by a plug 33 at the endof a spindle 32 passing through said channel 30, the other one, 31, serving for letting out fluid metal out of the crucible or for blowing air and gases into the crucible, the Whole as described and illustrated and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a furnace for producing wrought iron or steel direct from the ores, a crucible 16 having an opening 25 in its enlarged top, a valve 26 closing said opening, an outlet-pipe 28 near its upper end, an opening 29 at the bottom, channels 30 and 31 communicating with said opening, channels 18 surrounding said crucible, a lining 11 of refractory bricks inclosing said channels, a layer of fire-bricks 16 outside of the lining 11 and leaving channels 23 between the lining 11 and the firebricks 10, a lining 9 surrounding the firebricks 10 made of material conducting heat badly and a casing l and bottom 2 of sheet metal surrounding the whole, a hinged cover 3 lined inside with fire bricks 12 covering the crucible and leaving a passage 19 between the top of the crucible and the lining, said passage communicating with the channels 18 and with an exhaust-pipe 20 connected to the cover 3, an air-pipe 21 and valve 21 communicating with a channel 22 leading to the channels 23 at the upper part of the furnace, a free space 13 below the bottom of the crucible, said space communicating with the channels 23 by holes 24 and with the channels 18 and also with a pipe 14.- for blowing in gases by a valve 15 of a gas-main outside of the furnace, the Whole as described and illustrated and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EDUARD MEININGHAUS.

Witnesses:

PETER LIEBER, WILLIAM ESSENWEIN. 

